


but now i see daylight

by inlovewithimpossibility



Series: inlovewithimpossibility's Olicity Summer Sizzle 2019 Fics [12]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Olicity Summer Sizzle, Post-Episode s05e21 Honor Thy Fathers, Pre-Episode: s05e22 Missing, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-29 03:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20427848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: 'As in, I don't know if it's a date...''But you're hoping that it is?''I... it's dinner, people go to dinner.'Missing moment from between 5x21 and 5x22 when Felicity invites Oliver over for 'dinner', for the OSS prompt, 'pining'.





	but now i see daylight

It’s a strange feeling to Oliver.

It’s rare to bring down someone as big as Prometheus and then have this lull afterward. After Merlyn, there was Tommy’s funeral and Oliver’s own escape to Lian Yu. After Slade, there was still a lot of crime to face in the city and the issue of dealing with Slade themselves. After Ra’s, he and Felicity had left pretty instantaneously, driving off into the sunset. After Darhk, it had been dealing with the repercussions of his actions that year, his new position as mayor, and their team shrinking to just he and Felicity.

It’s strange but it’s also sort of liberating. When he thinks about it, Oliver’s unsure if he’s had this kind of hope in him since the summer he spent traveling with Felicity.

Two years seems like a lifetime ago now.

The Mayor’s Office still has its demands. There are always proposals to look over, projects to oversee, and a publicity scandal to dodge but without the pressure of Chase, Oliver finally feels like he has a handle on it.

He’s in his office, looking over paperwork when there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!” He calls, assuming it’s his assistant with another bout of work or even Thea. Both generally start speaking when they enter so he concentrates on finishing his sentence.

Heels click as whoever it is enters but Oliver frowns when there’s a lull before they speak.

"Oliver?”

His head flies up at the familiar voice and he cannot stop the smile that spreads across his face at the sight of Felicity. She’s dressed in jeans, something that appears to be becoming a more common occurrence, not that Oliver’s complaining at all, and a flowy, bright pink top. The straps are extremely thin, practically non-existent, and Oliver blinks for a moment before he manages to stand, making his way over to her.

“Hi, I wasn’t expecting you. Is everything alright?” He questions, his eyebrows furrowing. She merely smiles at him, tucking her loose hair behind her shoulder with a smile. It’s reserved, even a little nervous, and Oliver wonders what she’s here to talk about.

“Yeah, all quiet on the Western front.” She replies and Oliver smiles with a shake of his head. He figured that already. It’s rare that she comes to the office, and even rarer that she does so for Arrow business.

“Not quite what I meant.” He tells her and her mouth drops into a small ‘o’ before she smiles again, a blush covering her cheeks.

“I’m fine. How are you? Enjoying your new-found peace and quiet?” She questions and Oliver chuckles, leaning back against the desk.

“It is nice to finish work and know that I actually am done for the day.” He ponders and he can’t help but smile as Felicity chuckles.

“I bet.” She comments and he looks at her. Their interactions have been filled with this palpable tension ever since their lock-in in the bunker but it’s only grown over the past few days since they took down Chase. With nothing in the way, it’s like the ‘soon’ they agreed on is starting to strain at the seams.

It’s her that breaks the eye contact, stepping towards him before she clearly thinks twice. She heads for the chairs in front of his desk and perches on the arm of one of them. She fiddles with the strap of the bag hanging off her shoulder and Oliver’s eyes zero in on her nails, painted a bright white today.

“So, tomorrow.” She finally speaks and Oliver frowns.

“Tomorrow?” He questions, entirely unaware of the significance of the date. To him, tomorrow is just Tuesday. No?

“Oliver, do you know what the date is?” Felicity asks, shaking her head in obvious exasperated amusement which only confuses him further.

“It’s May 15th.” He answers easily, having been dating documents along with his signature all day long. Felicity takes a breath before shaking her head again.

“Exactly, which makes tomorrow May 16th.” She tells him, her voice slow and it takes Oliver another second before he recognizes the date and its significance.

“Oh right, my birthday.” He nods and Felicity laughs, half rolling her eyes. She sends him that look, the one that tells him he that exhausts her sometimes and he sends her his best sheepish smile right back at her.

“Yes. 32. You’re getting old, mister.” She teases, her eyes shining with happiness and it’s such a wonderful look on her. She’s so beautiful like this, hair loose and illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through his office windows.

“Alright, thank you, thirty isn’t too far off for you.” Oliver teases right back and she giggles. The sound of it makes Oliver freeze, he’s forgotten how much he adores that sound. Felicity has a lot of different laughs but that small, adorable giggle is one she reserves for these intimate kind of moments when she gets a little bashful. Her cheeks flush and she traps her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment before she takes a deep breath.

“A lot can happen in two years.” She tells him slowly, her eyes sparkling with something more than just happiness.

Two years.

He doesn’t miss the double meaning of her statement.

Two years.

That’s how long it’s been since Oliver last properly celebrated his birthday.

They spent it in a dingy motel off the freeway, a mere few days into their road trip. The two of them were so high off of excitement and their ability to finally express their love for each other that neither had cared about the bed that was a little too small or the paint peeling off the wall. To the two of them, that dodgy motel room could have been a luxury suite at the Grand and they celebrated Oliver’s movement into the next decade of his life in the only way they’d known how. The gas station cupcakes were a little stale in hindsight but Oliver still wouldn’t change that day for the world. The two of them were so full of hope and adoration for each other. At the time, it was absolutely perfect.

“I suppose it can.” He finally answers, meeting her eyes with a soft smile. She smiles back just as gently and Oliver forces himself to push down the other memories that thoughts of his thirtieth birthday pull up.

Not yet.

“Do you have any plans?” Felicity asks and Oliver raises an eyebrow with a smirk.

“For my birthday? Seeing as you only just reminded me of it, I’m going to go with no. Unless Thea’s planned something that I’m unaware of.” He ponders. He knows it’s not unlike his sister to spring something on him. He would be entirely unsurprised if she’s already planned something.

“Would you be opposed to making some plans?” There’s that nervous quality back in her voice again and Oliver freezes for a moment.

This feels an awful lot like a big step forward and what is she suggesting here? Is it a date? Are they ready for that yet? What if they dive in too quickly and it all blows back up again? Oliver couldn’t deal with that. When this happens, and he’s now sure it’s a when and not an if, he wants it to be for good this time because he knows that they’re it for each other.

This woman is the love of his life.

“With me, I mean. I guess that was kind of clear but I just wanted to make sure and I know that like this is kind of a…” Felicity starts to babble, obviously interpreting his silence as a negative thing and Oliver smiles.

“Felicity.” He interrupts and she stops.

“Hmm?” She questions, looking up at him with that nervousness written all over her face.

“I would love to make plans with you.” He reassures her and he watches as a smile spreads across her face. He thinks he could live off that smile as his only source of light, it’s bright enough, and his heart pangs as he thinks of how long it’s been since they’ve talked in this capacity. He knows he can’t underestimate the importance of these steps back towards each other.

It’s strange because it’s not as if Felicity really went anywhere but over the past year, it’s been a slow process of taking down the brick wall that they erected between them. There have been events that have built it back up again, Billy’s death being a huge one, as well as his annoyance at her over her intervention with Susan which he realizes now was a complete overreaction on his part. However, it feels like maybe now, they’re getting to the last few lines of bricks and Oliver could not be happier about it.

So long as nothing else happens to build it back up again.

“Yeah?” She asks and Oliver nods.

“Definitely.” He tells her and her smile only grows.

“Okay, so… my place, dinner, some wine?” She suggests, her hands back on fiddling with her bag strap.

The groan that escapes Oliver’s throat is entirely involuntary.

It’s just the idea of a night in with Felicity, dinner, wine, and maybe he could even talk her into a movie… it sounds like heaven right about now. He knows that he should want to take her out, to make a public statement about their relationship, but that also seems a little trivial to him now. With everything that’s happened between the two of them and Oliver’s own personal growth, he thinks that maybe they deserve some privacy.

Once again, however, his reaction seems to have unnerved Felicity.

“Oh, did you want to go out? Because we can do that too, I just thought that maybe it might be a good idea to keep the press out of it for now. Not that there is an ‘it’ for them to report on, I didn’t mean to make that sound suggestive, I just…” She babbles, her cheeks growing redder and even though it’s entirely too adorable for Oliver to handle, he knows he should put her out of her misery.

“Dinner and wine sound perfect.” He interrupts and she freezes, relaxing back into an easy smile. “I mean as long as you’re not planning on cooking.”

That grants him a snort and another version of Felicity’s laugh. The loud, short peel where she throws her head back.

He’s missed that one too.

“Oliver, I haven’t even so much as looked at a saucepan in about a year. I was planning on ordering in.” She assures him and he grins.

“Good. Just… maybe not Chinese?” He can’t help but suggest, his eyes twinkling with the memory of their night in the bunker last summer. It’s a memory he’s held onto through so many lonely nights this year, the feeling of her on top of him, her hair brushing against his bare chest…

_Not yet, _he reminds himself.

“How about Italian?” Felicity teases right back and it causes flashes of an entirely different night. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget how gorgeous she looked in that dress, her hair curled over her shoulder and her eyes shining beautifully in the low light of the restaurant.

“Italian sounds perfect.” He answers seriously and her smile drops from teasing to something far softer and subtler.

“Perfect.” She replies, her eyes locked on his once more and Oliver finds himself mesmerized by the flecks dancing within them. It doesn’t matter how many times he’s seen them and studied them, he wants to do it for as many years as he’s got left. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

“How’s eight?” He questions and she nods, taking a deep breath.

“Wonderful.”

“Tomorrow night it is.” He states and that palpable tension is back. It feels odd, to be making such a concrete plan. They haven’t confirmed what this is, Oliver’s not sure that they need to. He thinks that maybe the days of those kinds of definitions are in the past. They both know the road they’re taking and they’re their way to their destination, no matter how slowly.

That’s all Oliver needs to know right now.

“I’ll let you get back to… mayor-ing.” Felicity smiles shyly, standing up straight again and he smiles, nodding his head. He moves with her towards the door, their eyes locking once more as he opens the frosted glass for her to step through.

“Bye Felicity.” He tells her, his words holding the promise of what tomorrow might bring. She smiles and goes to step through the door before she freezes, turning back to him. Oliver’s worried she might be about to back step on this whole thing but she merely steps closer to him, rising onto her toes. He’s pretty sure his brain short-circuits when her soft lips press against his cheek, lingering for just a seconds before her heels drop back down to the floor and she steps back.

“Bye.” She smiles bashfully and before Oliver can think straight again, she’s halfway down the corridor with a gentle smile on her face as she glances back over her shoulder.

All too soon the sight of her disappears behind the elevator doors but his eyes linger nonetheless, his cheeks still tingling with the memory of her lips.

“Ollie?”

He whirls around at his sister’s voice to see Thea stood a few feet away, an entirely-far-too-amused smile on her lips.

“What’d you say?” He questions, his brain still a little foggy and Thea snorts, shaking her head.

“You have lipstick on your cheek.” She tells him with a laugh. Oliver’s hand flies to his cheek and he gently wipes at it, not wanting to remove the sensation that’s still lingering there. Thea rolls her eyes as she pushes past him into his office.

He knows she says something else as he lets the door fall from his hands but he’s too busy thinking about what tie he should wear tomorrow night.


End file.
